Navigating Wellness Primary Care

09/07/2026

Funny of the day!

09/07/2026

09/06/2026

We have Nevada in person and zoom plus Maine zoom available THIS week!

09/06/2026

🩺 ARE YOU DUE? Let’s Talk Preventive Screenings!

One of the best things you can do for your health is not wait until something feels wrong.

Screenings are designed to find certain health problems before you have symptoms—when they may be easier to treat or even prevent.

Here are some of the common screening recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF):

🎀 MAMMOGRAMS
For most women at average risk:
➡️ Ages 40–74: Mammogram every 2 years.

💙 COLON CANCER SCREENING
➡️ Routine screening begins at age 45 and continues through age 75 for most average-risk adults.
➡️ Ages 76–85: The decision is individualized.

And remember—a colonoscopy isn’t your only option! Depending on your situation, stool-based tests such as FIT or stool DNA testing may also be appropriate.

🌸 CERVICAL CANCER / PAP SCREENING
For average-risk women with a cervix:
➡️ Ages 21–29: Pap test every 3 years.
➡️ Ages 30–65: Options include Pap testing every 3 years, high-risk HPV testing every 5 years, or cotesting every 5 years.

Screening may be different if you’ve had abnormal results, cervical precancer/cancer, certain immune conditions, or a hysterectomy. The USPSTF is currently updating this guideline, so recommendations may change.

🫁 LUNG CANCER SCREENING
This one gets missed!

Annual low-dose CT screening is recommended for certain adults:
➡️ Ages 50–80
➡️ At least a 20 pack-year smoking history
➡️ Currently smoke OR quit within the past 15 years.

🦴 OSTEOPOROSIS / BONE DENSITY
➡️ Women 65 and older should be screened for osteoporosis.
➡️ Postmenopausal women younger than 65 may also need screening if they have increased fracture risk.

🩸 BLOOD PRESSURE
➡️ All adults 18 and older should be screened for high blood pressure.

High blood pressure often causes no symptoms at all, which is exactly why checking it matters.

🍬 DIABETES & PREDIABETES
USPSTF recommends screening adults 35–70 who have overweight or obesity for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. Earlier screening may be appropriate depending on your individual risk factors.

⚠️ Here’s the important part:

These are guidelines—not a substitute for individualized medical care.

Your family history, personal medical history, medications, smoking history, previous abnormal tests, genetics, symptoms, and other risk factors may mean you need to start screening earlier, screen more often, or continue longer.

And if you’re having symptoms, that’s no longer simply a “screening” conversation. Call your healthcare provider.

❤️ Preventive care isn’t glamorous. You probably won’t post a selfie from your colonoscopy prep. 😂 But keeping up with screenings can save your life.

At your next appointment, ask one simple question:

“Am I up to date on my recommended screenings?”

That five-minute conversation might be one of the most important ones you have this year.

~ Rae

09/06/2026

SELF-CARE SUNDAY 🌿

Self-care isn’t always bubble baths, naps, candles, and quiet mornings.

Sometimes self-care looks like doing the things that aren’t particularly relaxing—but matter for the life you want to live.

It’s moving your body even when the couch sounds better.
It’s making the appointment you’ve been putting off.
It’s getting your labs checked.
It’s taking your medications as prescribed.
It’s scheduling your Pap smear or mammogram.
It’s keeping up with your annual physical and recommended screenings.
It’s drinking more water, getting enough sleep, and paying attention when your body tells you something has changed.

And sometimes it’s finally saying, “I need to take better care of me.”

Preventive healthcare is self-care.

Being proactive instead of waiting until something is wrong is self-care.

Investing a little time in your health today can give you more healthy tomorrows.

This Sunday, do something kind for your future self. Maybe that means resting—and maybe it means scheduling the appointment you’ve been avoiding. 💛

Your health deserves a place on your to-do list, too.

~ Rae

09/05/2026

WE DID IT!

A remarkable milestone for islet transplantation and the pursuit of a functional cure for Type 1 diabetes.

The journey began in 2018, when I reviewed Anelixis Therapeutics and its re-engineered anti-CD40L antibody, AT-1501, as a member of Noble Capital Markets’ Scientific Advisory Board. I immediately recognized its potential for transplantation and became an enthusiastic supporter of its development.

Anelixis was subsequently acquired and became part of Eledon Pharmaceuticals, and AT-1501 evolved into tegoprubart.

This was particularly exciting because Dr. Norma Kenyon, our collaborators and I at the University of Miami Diabetes Research Institute (UM-DRI) had worked for over two decades on CD40/CD40L blockade and its potential to protect transplanted islets while avoiding the toxicity of conventional calcineurin inhibitors such as tacrolimus.

The next challenge was bringing tegoprubart to patients.

With the support of the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation, Breakthrough T1D and The Cure Alliance, we helped launch the first clinical pilot in islet transplantation, led by Dr. Piotr Witkowski at the University of Chicago, in collaboration with our Cell Transplant Center at UM-DRI.

The results have been extraordinary: all 12 transplanted patients achieved insulin independence, with no reported graft-rejection episodes or de novo donor-specific HLA antibodies.

And now comes another historic step:

Eledon has submitted an IND to the FDA for an Eledon-sponsored registrational study of tegoprubart in islet transplantation for Type 1 diabetes.

We are profoundly grateful to Eledon for making this extraordinary commitment and to everyone who believed in and supported this work along the way.

We especially congratulate Piotr Witkowski for his remarkable leadership in translating decades of collaborative research into results for patients.

The next goal is equally important: modernizing the U.S. regulatory framework for deceased-donor islets and ultimately developing strategies that can eliminate the need for chronic anti-rejection therapy altogether.

Anelixis → AT-1501 → Eledon → tegoprubart → insulin independence → registrational pathway.

Now we need HHS and FDA to RECLASSIFY ISLETS similarly to organ transplants like in other developed countries, like Canada, France and China, allowing US academic centers to be competitive again, on the path to a cure and most importantly making it accessible to many more people living with Type 1 diabetes.

Research Institute Foundation

T1D



Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Action Coalition

09/04/2026

We are moving!! If you are booked September 28th on in Bangor — you’ll be seen at 40 Summer St, Bangor ME 04401

09/04/2026

Thanks for being a top engager and making it on to my weekly engagement list! 🎉

Matt Ronco, Courtney Marie Erickson, Donna M. Rollins, Kro Mac, Beth Nichols Wintle, Donna Veino, Teresa England, Gary Zinn, Becky Durant Ellis, Melissa Gurney